Report: BC DC DB TO MI Comment Count

Brian

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SI's Thayer Evans is reporting that Michigan will hire Boston College defensive coordinator Don Brown in the same capacity at Michigan:

Sam Webb has an unconfirmed report that Brown told BC's players he would depart today.

This is the first that Brown's name has come up in connection with the Michigan job, which goes to show how much this was on lockdown. I was momentarily disappointed and then I remembered spending much of the year mad at BC for having the audacity to  be above Michigan in the rankings.

This is not because they beat up on Howard and Maine. S&P ignores that stuff. Meanwhile let's play spot the outlier in Dalvin Cook's season:

image

15 for 54 is BC. everyone else got nuked except Georgia Tech, which managed the 17 for 82 above.

BC's defense finished the year third in S&P+ behind only FSU and Michigan despite having nowhere near the talent either of those two teams had *and* having the kind of crippling dysfunction on the other side of the ball that usually leads to late landslide victories. You know, the kind of offense that can do this:

Wake Forest 3, Boston College 0: It's okay to hate something you love sometimes

Football Study Hall's Ian Boyd wrote a feature on Brown's defense not five days ago. Read the whole thing but here's the nutshell version:

With a quick LB corps, safeties that can play multiple roles, and effective DL anchored by highly skilled tackles all of the schematics and skill sets on the Eagles' defense were able to pull together to form a dominant unit. They were hard to move the ball against on normal downs and then pure murder on 3rd and long. Too bad about that offense.

Brown doesn't fit Harbaugh's profile in that he's 60 and presumably not looking to move up, but as far as results go he's a very impressive hire. And he's a college guy, so thumbs up for that.

Comments

DrAwkward

December 20th, 2015 at 8:56 PM ^

I was wondering why Brown was not mentioned earlier on the Board. I live in ACC country and BC's defense was widely respected/feared, even though the BC offense was absolute crap.

Welcome to Michigan, DB!

SysMark

December 20th, 2015 at 9:08 PM ^

I'm liking this hire...a lot.  Even if he's not as fanatical recruiter as Durkin supposedly was...what we need is a crushing defense.  The rest will follow.

A2Fan

December 20th, 2015 at 10:09 PM ^

 . . . we will have all of our Principals in place ready to put the finishing touches on this year's recruiting class & set our Goals even higher for next season. It's All Good.

BoFan

December 20th, 2015 at 10:07 PM ^

Everyone forgets that all the other candidate, even the favorites, had big question marks. Anderson was underwhelming. Others had: blowouts losses to OSU, abuse records, limited track records (young). The only rub against Brown seems to be his age, which actually means he has more experience.

FLwolvfan22

December 21st, 2015 at 7:57 AM ^

Look at the pic of Don Brown, just from his pic you can tell that's one guy you don't want to p's off and as a player you're going to do exactly what he says or else. Great hire, can't wait to see what he can do with 4* talent and congrats to Don Brown for getting to the level he should be at after working in the small schools for so long. 

Chitown Kev

December 20th, 2015 at 10:31 PM ^

a solid bowl win over Florida will put us in the preseason Top 10 next year, for sure.

Rough road schedule in conference, yes, but UM will probably be co-favorites with Ohio State to win the conference.

Quailman

December 20th, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^

I don't know if this has been discussed because I havent read every comment. But what does this mean for the rest of the defensive staff?

Brown's specialty is DB's, right? UM has Jackson and Zordich there. Partridge is currently coaching the LB's, though partly to get him on the recruiting trail. Once Brown is aboard that puts UM over 10 coaches, so someone has to go...

Does Zordich leave since UM would not need 3 DB coaches? Could Zordich move to LB's?

Does Partridge stick at LB's? Does he move back to his staff role? If thats the case, who coaches LB's?

jmblue

December 20th, 2015 at 11:40 PM ^

This is much better than I was expecting.  This man just fielded arguably the best defense in the country this season - at Boston College.

 

  

 

EGD

December 21st, 2015 at 12:27 AM ^

I am not familiar with Brown and haven't seen a BC game on ages, but from the discussion this seems like a pretty strong hire. His age doesn't bother me and you can't argue with #1, plus it looks like he's done well at previous stops like UConn and UMass.

JamieH

December 21st, 2015 at 12:48 AM ^

Overblitzing in the NFL gets you into a lot of trouble, because elite QBs eat blitzes for breakfast.  But in college football, there are very few elite QBs.  Most college QBs can be really rattled by an effectively disguized blitz.  



If one of Brown's strenghts is figuring out how to bring extra guys on nearly every play without the offense knowing where they are coming from, then I'm all for it.  That kind of thing can be incredibly effective in college ball.  I think it will eventually get you killed in the pros, but in college football, getting extra pressure on the QB causes all kinds of mayhem, because most of them cannot deal with it. 

CoverZero

December 21st, 2015 at 3:36 AM ^

Don is a good hire for the new DC.  His style will match up with the returning talent very nicely.  That part should be a good fit.  Also, his career has mostly been in the East, so he may be a great recruiting asset there.

Harbaugh is determined to dominate Recruiting in the East.  His domination of NJ has lead Meyer to hire Schiano to try to make up ground.  Another asset there in Don Brown will help increase the lead.

Don

December 21st, 2015 at 7:47 AM ^

Sam says he's having former Boston Globe reporter Mark Blaudschun on his show at 8:05 this morning. Blaudschun covered BC football for many years, so he might have some interesting up close and personal info about Brown.

Dan84

December 21st, 2015 at 8:17 AM ^

For anyone wondering (as I was), BC currently has 19 commits, all 3-stars or fewer.

The best player in the class appears to be an OLB from OH named Ethan Tucky, whose best offers are from Iowa and Wisconsin. The second best player is a Connecticut TE named Scooter Harrington, who has offers from Wisconsin, N.C. State and Pitt.

So, given the need to fill slots at TE and LB, perhaps these guys become backup plans if the current offers don't pan out.

http://bostoncollege.247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/Commits

Wolverine In Iowa 68

December 21st, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^

I think we need a DC who's as tough as a 2-dollar steak (which I hear is also a vitamin) who will attack the game with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.

He's got a similar story, highly energetic, focused, improved teams everywhere he's gone....

 

Sounds like a great fit to me...

 

HAIL!